Cal Poly Downs Cal State Northridge, 72-49

The Mustangs entered Thursday night's Big West Conference game ranked #1 in the league and tenth in the nation in scoring defense (58.7 ppg).

The Mustangs again displayed their intense defensive play to defeat Cal State Northridge, 72-49, at Mott Gym.

Cal Poly held CSUN to only 28 percent shooting from the floor and outrebounded the Matadors, 49-24.

The Mustangs jumped to a double-digit lead in the first seven minutes of the game, 12-2, and the scoring avalanche continued with little resistance.

Cal Poly led, 42-18, at halftime.

Matador head coach Bobby Braswell didn't pull any punches. He didn't need to look at the box score. This was an old-fashioned whipping from the opening tipoff to the final buzzer.

"That was probably the worst effort of basketball in a half that we have played this year," said Braswell. "We just weren't very competitive tonight and that was disappointing. We were, however, a little more competitive in the second half, a little more scrappy."

Cal State Northridge outscored Cal Poly, 31-30, in the second half, and for the game, CSUN's defense held Cal Poly to only 39 percent shooting.

Lenny Daniel recorded his 14th double-double of the season. Josh Greene was the only other Matador double-digit scorer with eleven points, all in the second half.

Cal State Northridge now takes a break from league play to play at Eastern Washington in a EPSN Sears Bracketbuster game on Saturday night (2/19/11).